Reason for absence

A few days after Michael and his family left the Vanderbilt Kingdom, a welcoming celebration commenced in the entire Vanderbilt estate.

Horns blared with the sounds of thousands of soldiers marching towards the Kingdom walls, their synchronized steps echoing through the streets.

Today was the day Yze Vanderbilt would return to his Kingdom.

The whole lineage inside the Kingdom celebrated, treating his arrival as if he had returned from a victorious war against another country.

But the truth was nothing as grandiose as that.

Sure, Yze Vanderbilt was accompanied by a ten-thousand-man army wherever he went, but that didn't mean he had gone to fight in a war. That was just because his safety was vitally important to the Vanderbilt family and the country itself.

His children and his grandchildren all gathered at the large plaza square, waving their handkerchiefs as a sign of respect for the Vanderbilt founding father.

Yet, despite the celebrations and fanfare, as the grand chariot and carriages entered the plaza, they did not stop. They simply continued on their way, ignoring all the people trying to catch Yze's attention.

It didn't stop even for a single second.

This was quite unusual. Grandfather Vanderbilt enjoyed festivities and welcoming parties like this, usually lasting for many days, up to a week. He would spare no expense for performances, drinking, eating, and many such celebrations.

But now, something way different.

Many wondered what was wrong, but they could only speculate to themselves.

Yze wasted no time. He went directly to his mansion and entered his chambers. He sat on his throne, his head resting on his hands.

Silence filled the throne room.

Despite his age—his gray-white hair, sagging eyebags, a face full of wrinkles, and a stooped posture—Yze's presence was still as commanding as ever, like a lion about to pounce.

The Board of Directors next to him were nervous. Yze Vanderbilt in silence was never a good sign.

Finally, one of them dared to speak up.

"How was the trip, Sire?" the old man next to him asked cautiously, trying not to offend him. "Did you accomplish what you wanted with that new company… Reborn?"

The reason why Yze Vanderbilt left his estate in his great old age was because of a single reason—rumors.

There seemed to be an up-and-coming new company called Reborn, who had been sweeping the Cities and disrupting the local market with their new and innovative products.

Word had spread that even the Vanderbilt business in Kingsbridge City—an established force that had been dominant for decades—was starting to fall behind this upstart company after just five years.

Even some of Yze's Wizard friends had grown addicted to a strange new board game called 'Reborn Chess'.

Naturally, Yze had his men investigate the Reborn company and their products.

He initially suspected that they were using underhanded schemes, some trickery meant to topple the Vanderbilt business. But once he held the Reborn soap and shampoo in his hands, he finally realized the genius and innovation this company had.

Not only that, but the techniques and marketing strategy they employed were something that made even him impressed, and he couldn't help but admire them.

Yze felt that whoever was at the helm of Reborn was someone who, given enough time, could someday challenge even the biggest players in the industry like him.

That thought ignited something within the old man.

A spark of competitiveness, a fire that had been fading for a long time.

Even though Kingsbridge was just a small City on the outskirts of the province, Yze felt that no Vanderbilt business should ever be outdone by some new company that was still wet behind its ears.

So, for a year, Yze and a few of his most trusted people planned and experimented with products that were better or at least at the same level as the products that Reborn was putting out into the market.

And they found it. They were able to develop a soap that was much more fragrant than Reborn's soap, it lasted much longer, and most of all, it cost less to produce.

They did the same with the shampoo and the revolutionary matchstick.

With the help of his friends from the Guild of Arcana, they were able to create an even more complicated board game called Battlefield Strike.

Yze wasn't just aiming to compete.

He wanted to destroy Reborn in Kingsbridge before they could even try to expand to other Cities.

He was so certain that his products would prevail against Reborn. So sure, in fact, that Yze traveled all the way to Kingsbridge just to witness with his own eyes as to how the whole thing would unfold.

This led him to miss the meeting with Michael.

And yet—

When he arrived at Kingsbridge, the impossible happened.

When they put out their superior products into the Kingsbridge market, no one bought them!

Even though they were objectively better and much cheaper than Reborn products, barely anyone switched from Reborn.

When they investigated this further, it turned out that Reborn had just come out with another revolutionary product called the 'plumbing system.' 

And not only that.

They were even solving the city's polluted river crisis with something called a sewer system.

This pushed the Reborn's popularity into the skies.

In Kingsbridge, every citizen had become fiercely loyal to the Reborn company.

Yze was impressed by the plumbing system, but that was something that could be replicated by anyone else. However, what truly left a mark on the old man was how Reborn had managed to make an entire city utterly loyal to their products.

He had never seen anything like this before. It was nothing short of mind-blowing.

Defeated, he could only return to his Kingdom and brood over his loss.

"A formidable opponent has emerged," Yze muttered, his voice low and commanding.

The future promised to be exciting. Even though he had lost, Yze found himself itching for a fight with Reborn. However, he didn't have much time. He was already quite old.

Yze could only hope that his inheritor would be able to fight against the eventual rise of Reborn and still keep the Vanderbilt name at the top of the world.

He shook his head. "If only my descendants had even a fraction of the talent possessed by the Reborn's mastermind, I could die happily."

"But no. They're all naive, sheltered fools. It's my own doing, really. I pampered them so much that they didn't have the killer instincts to survive in this world. They'll sink the ship I built with my very own hand."

"If it were possible, I would rather entrust the entire Vanderbilt business to that Reborn mastermind. At least then, I would know that my business is in good hands."

Yze sighed, rubbing his temples. He must have been severely sleep-deprived to entertain such thoughts.

There was no point in thinking about things that were beyond his control. He decided to go to sleep for now.

But before he could stand up, a bell resounded through the throne room.

DING! DONG!

Yze's eyes snapped toward a strange new contraption in the corner of the room. It resembled a cabinet with a circular face that had evenly spaced lines around its edges.

And once he listened closely, he heard the rhythmic tik tok sound coming from within the object.

"What is that?" he asked his advisors.

The old man next to him bowed. "That is a gift from Bart Vanderbilt, Sire. It's called a clock, which seemed to have been made by his youngest son, Michael."